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Why Elizabeth Keen is (obviously) not dead

I just watched the latest episode of The Blacklist. MAJOR SPOILERS ARE AHEAD, THIS IS YOUR WARNING.

So in the latest episode, “Mr. Solomon – Conclusion”, there is a cataclysmic plot twist in which Elizabeth Keen, whose mysterious familial background is the driving force of the show, seemingly perished after a medical complication. The shock value of this development cannot be underestimated… however, I claim that she is (obviously) not dead. Here are the clues:

1) When Keen was assessed by the first doctor at the hospital, her diagnosis was fine. There are no indications at that time that she has suffered any serious trauma.

2) When Mr. Kaplan went to pick her up from the hospital, Keen was talking angrily about how she’s in this situation because of Reddington. Mr. Kaplan looked sympathetic. Most likely they planned what to do right after.

3) Notice that Keen started developing medical complications only after being treated at the nightclub. During this time Mr. Kaplan, Keen, and Nick had time to converse in private; Reddington (and therefore the audience) is not aware of what happened. After this conversation, all of a sudden Keen’s medical condition started deteriorating, and Nick asked for additional medical equipment to be brought. Who took care of this? Mr. Kaplan.

4) Mr. Kaplan very squarely blamed Red for Keen’s predicament. It is not at all surprising if she would secretly plan to fake Keen’s death just so that Reddington could not be in Keen’s life any longer.

5) After Keen has been pronounced dead, Mr. Kaplan, who earlier in the episode showed that she obviously cares for Keen, displayed no distress. Reddington almost fell over and Samar balled her eyes out, even Nick was extremely distraught. So why didn’t Mr. Kaplan react at all? Probably because she knows Liz is not really dead. Moreover, she again murmured something to Nick while Dembe was helping Red into the car. Clearly there is something astray here.

The obvious need to ‘kill’ Liz is because Megan Boone is pregnant for real and probably has to go give birth for real, and take some mat leave on top of that. This is a pragmatic solution to this very gnarly logistical issue. Do not be surprised if Keen pops up all of a sudden on episode 20 or earlier.

If Scottie is actually Tom’s mother, that would make a lot of sense for why the two of them are supposed to be in the spinoff, should it actually happen. Wasn’t surprised to see Mr. Solomon got away after Tom shot him; he’s also supposed to be in the spinoff.

Nothing happened in this episode to change my belief that Elizabeth is still living, somewhere. I was waiting for her to pop up in this episode, actually. Note that Megan Boone’s name is still in the credits. Also, when people leave a series, there is usually some sort of announcement, at least by the network, about the departure. She’s also the center of the series; sorry, Red.